Progress has been made, although not as much as I would have liked. As far as the names go, I’ve got all the letters sewn in except for Jeremiah II and the last A in Thaleia. My biggest fear was dealing with the blocks that only had one letter in them. Turns out it wasn’t too bad.
Saturday I got the top left quadrant sewn together. Sunday I received a call. One of the names is spelled wrong! So, my husband and I went out shopping. When we got home we put our heads together and found a solution. Now all I need to do is finish stitching the last few letters then get them sewn into the top.
I will NOT quilt this before the wedding Saturday. We are going to hang it in the reception hall and let everyone proof read it!
See what others have on their design walls by following the links over at Patchwork Times.
This past week no new fabric was purchased. I used the fabric for the backing of the Neutral Strip Twist and the center of Candy Sunflower Seeds. I still don’t have the borders on that quilt. The biggest thing I worked on was the crossword puzzle quilt and all that fabric has been counted – well except for a 4″ square and I’m going to count that square when I determine if I need to make more blocks.
Fabric Added last week: 0 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 86.769 yards
Fabric Used last weeks: 8.91 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 111.083 yards
Net Used for 2011: 24.314 yards
Checkout the links over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing.
It’s been a whirlwind of activities or lack there of this week. Down with a sinus infection early in the week and then dodging tornadoes before finally getting my momentum back. I’m still not at full power but there are quilts to get done.
I’ve tossed some blocks up on the design wall for my sister’s wedding quilt. When she and her fiance were here last weekend I finally showed it to them. She loves it — or at least what it will become.
This is about 1/4th of the quilt. My design wall is not big enough for the entire quilt, so I’m going to have to work on it in sections. That 5th block down on the left side of the quilt is going to have to move. I think I’m going to find a spot where the really light part is under a letter.
I have more blocks to piece and letters to applique, but hopefully I’ll get some of the blocks sewn together by this time tomorrow.
Just pulled this quilt from the dryer. I finished the last 3″ of binding last night. It even has a label! The top was finished in 2007 and I finished quilting it at the beginning of the month. Normally I stitch my bindings down on the machine — I want to know they’ll stay down — but I was having issues and figured I’d just stitch it down by hand. I won’t make that decision again unless I have no other choice.
This is one of my challenge quilts, so only 6 more to complete in the next 28 days. I best get a move on it!
We interrupt this quilting marathon ( Complete 10 quilts between March 16th – June 22nd) for a new quilt top – Candy Sunflower Seeds (I’m using the pattern The Chain Event by Dorothy Young).
Say what?!!
After the disaster I created quilting this quilt a few weeks ago, I had to back up and punt.
Thanks to S for ripping the quilting out. Anyway, I decided I needed to use a template on my curves and quilting in the setting squares and triangles. Since I hadn’t done that, I figured a “test” quilt was in order. Thus the new quilt top.
Of course, now I don’t think I need a test quilt. Yesterday I quilted the Neutral Strip Twist and I did half way decent considering I hadn’t done any template/ruler work previously.
Since I’m reporting, here’s the status of the marathon quilts.
1 – Dragonflies — Completed 3/29
2 – Miniature Ohio Star – Completed 4/19
3 – Crossword Puzzle – Still piecing – need at least the top 6/3
4 – BQ2 – Needs label, otherwise finished 5/14
5 – Summertime – 8 inches of binding left to stitch down, label attached
6 – Neutral Strip Twist – needs border quilted, etc
7 – The Chain Event – needs quilting (appt on 6/5)
8 – Victoria’s Rose – needs border quilted, etc
9 – Kansas Spirit – needs quilting (will do on DSM)
10 – Ribbon Candy – binding attached
There’s still a lot to do, but I’m confident that with the three-day weekend coming up I’ll be able to get it all done by my deadline.
Follow the links over at Patchwork Times – I’m sure you’ll find great inspiration and quilters who aren’t as crazy as me.
Just a quick report this morning.
Fabric Added last week: 9.75 yards – borders, binding & backing for the Neutral Strip Twist
Fabric Added to Date: 86.769 yards
Fabric Used last weeks: 2.25 yards – borders & binding for the Neutral Strip Twist
Fabric Used to Date: 102.173 yards
Net Used for 2011: 15.404 yards
Checkout the links over at Patchwork Times to see how others are doing.
When I picked up thread at Jo-Ann’s the other day, I thought I saw the fabric I wanted for the border of this quilt – a beige speckle that I had used in the center of the quilt. When I went to buy it Thursday night I discovered the color was off. What I used in the quilt was from my stash and I bought it at least two years ago. So, I had to figure out something else.
I really like what I ended up with. The outer border is a mottled honey color. The inner border is a light yellowy beige with darker speckles/lines.
Now to get it quilted.
Jill’s question this week is:
How do you save time and money while quilting?
#1 – Shop my stash first. I don’t have a huge stash – especially not of yardage, but I can generally put together a scrappy quilt from my fabric bins (stuff larger that a F8) or my pre-cut bins (strips, brick & blocks).
#2 – When I have to buy – fabric, batting, or thread, or anything really – I do my best to get it on sale. I can’t think of the last time I paid full retail price for something. Even if it’s not on sale, I typically get 10% off because I’m a member of a quilt guild.
#3 – Shop for fabric where you don’t normally think to look. Check out thrift shops. I was in one the other day and there were two different 4 yard cuts of quilting cotton for about $8. Since I didn’t NEED any Hogs on Hogs or Bears on Hogs, I left it at the shop. Which is a good segway to the next point.
#4 – If it doesn’t have an immediate purpose LEAVE IT AT THE STORE. That’s not to say that if your selection of red fabrics is low and you find a great red that you love you can’t bring it home. That fills a purpose – filling out your selection of red fabrics. But it does mean that if you found a great fabric, you love it, but have no idea of what you are going to do with it, or when you plan to use it it can stay at the store.
#5 – Buy only what you need plus the little extra that you always want to have for cutting mistakes. If the pattern calls for 1/2 yard, buy the 1/2 yard or maybe 5/8 — not the whole yard. The exception of course is if the sale price is only for 1 yard cuts or more — but if purchasing the whole yard will cost significantly more than getting just what you need on regular price – buy what you need.
#6 – Just because you have a coupon doesn’t mean you have to use it. I just got a postcard for my birthday at a LQS. It’s worth 25% off my purchase during a two week period. Unless it’s good on long arm rental, I think the only thing I’m going to use it on is pre-wound bobbins for the quilt I’ll quilt on the last day the coupon is good.
#7 – Similar to shopping the stash, work on your UFOs. Most of my UFOs I have everything I need to finish them. Borders, backings, bindings and occasionally sashings tend to be the exception.
Ok, I guess that about sums up how I save money on my quilting. So what about time savers.
#1 – I’m a big Leader/Ender fan. Bonnie Hunter has a great tutorial about Leaders & Enders here. So, while I’m piecing a project that I needs to be done “now”, I’m also piecing a project that can be done “whenever”. My current leader/ender project is Fun with Bricks.
#2 – I’ve never been one to be able to pick up an entire quilt off the floor or design wall and sew the blocks together and have them in the right order. On the other hand, don’t like getting up after one seam to get the next block. So, I’ve taken flower head pins and put numbers on them 1 – 2- 3- 4, and so on – I think up to 8. When it’s time to sew a row together, I stick pin #1 in the top left corner of the 1st block on the row. I flip block #2 over onto it and then stick a straight pin through both blocks where they will be seamed together. Flower pin #3 goes in the 3rd block, and I go down the row. Now, I can take the entire pile of paired blocks (don’t forget to bring block # 7 with you) and sew them into pairs and then the pairs into 4’s, without turning a block up side down or putting block 1 & 2 after block 3 & 4.
#3 – Get a design wall. It is so much easier walking up to a wall and arranging blocks than trying to arrange them on the floor and having to get up and down, or on the bed. The bonus is you don’t have to worry about the cat rearranging them for you.
#4 – Change and/or sharpen your rotary blade. I can’t tell you the # of times I fuss with a blade not cutting all the way through and keep messing with it. Then I’m amazed at the speed in which I can cut fabric with a new blade.
#5 – I used to belong to a group that sent out a reminder to wind your bobbins once a week. It take the same amount of time to wind 10 bobbins all at once as it does to wind one bobbin 10 times, but you only thread your machine once instead of 10 times. Also, the project goes faster once you start sewing if you don’t have to stop to wind another bobbin. (I tend to piece everything using gray thread).
I’m sure there are other things I do which speeds my quilting along, but since I do them all the time by habit, I don’t necessarily realize it’s saving me time.
Check out the link’s over Jill’s to see how other same time & money when they quilt.
The center is done. I got an “I like it!” from my DH. Tomorrow begins the mad dash to find border fabric.
These are just some ideas I have. Option #3 is growing on me — now if I can just remember where I bought that FQ.
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
